TRUTH
IN
CHARTERS
Texas taxpayers should know!
TRUTH
"We can choose to hoard resources and segregate ourselves and flee the moment things feel uncomfortable."
from the podcast "Nice White Parents" |
Charter Schools: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Charter schools are privately run, publicly funded, and irregularly regulated. John Oliver explores why they aren’t at all like pizzerias. |
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4 New IDEA Charters in El Paso & Odessa areas
8 Oct 2020 | Last week, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath approved four new IDEA charter franchises that will be located in the El Paso and Odessa areas. The commissioner approved these new franchises through the charter amendment process.
As a reminder, the State Board of Education has final authority over the approval of new open-enrollment charter applicants. These applicants must submit their plans to the board and describe how they propose to use state funding provided by taxpayers to serve students in a specified geographical area. However, once an initial charter is approved, the charter operator can seek to amend its charter to open an unlimited number of new franchises anywhere in Texas. Approval of these charter amendments is at the sole discretion of the Commissioner of Education. Limited public notice is required, and there is no opportunity for public input.
As a reminder, the State Board of Education has final authority over the approval of new open-enrollment charter applicants. These applicants must submit their plans to the board and describe how they propose to use state funding provided by taxpayers to serve students in a specified geographical area. However, once an initial charter is approved, the charter operator can seek to amend its charter to open an unlimited number of new franchises anywhere in Texas. Approval of these charter amendments is at the sole discretion of the Commissioner of Education. Limited public notice is required, and there is no opportunity for public input.
Additional Cost of Charters (Region XIX) 22 Sep 2020
Summary, in 2019-20:
- Charters in El Paso cost the state and Texas taxpayers $7.8 million more than if the same students would have attended their home school districts.
- El Paso ISDs with the largest number of transfers to charters lost an estimated $59.8 in revenue to charters.
Charter Amendment Approvals as of 30 Sep 2020
Once an open enrollment charter is awarded by TEA through the application process, and the charter meets certain TEA requirements, it can open an unlimited number of new charter campuses anywhere in Texas through the charter amendment process. Approval of charter amendments is at the sole discretion of the Commissioner of Education; there is extremely limited public notice and no opportunity for public input.
A total of 736 new charter campuses were approved by the Commissioner across Texas between 2010 and 2019 through the charter amendment process.
A total of 736 new charter campuses were approved by the Commissioner across Texas between 2010 and 2019 through the charter amendment process.
Duplicative Tax-Payer Burden
The Legislative Budget Board confirmed the additional cost of charters to the state in a 2018 memo which estimated that Texas would have saved $882 million over the 2018-2019 biennium (over two years) if charters had been paid the same as the districts where the charters have the highest enrollment.
A STATEWIDE OVERVIEW
September 2020
TRUTH IN CHARTERS - BY REGION
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